The June 28 Democratic Debate

Another multi-candidate event down, another evening she can go to sleep with her front-runner status still intact. Every answer was solid, although she failed to command the stage as completely as on previous occasions. Prior debate success has removed every shred of nervousness, giving her leadership mien more sheen. Invoked the burnished Clinton years with Goldilocks precision — not too much, not too little. Delivered one of the night's most crowd-pleasing lines with a substantive point about the impact of race on the search for an AIDS cure. Nevertheless, there were flashes of her trademark rhetorical weakness — aiming for passion and coming off shrill — and she earned derisive press-room sniggers for a lame Paris Hilton joke.

— By Mark Halperin